Reading: Exodus 3:1-6, Exodus 20:2, Trinity Sunday B – June 18, 2000
By The Rev. Karen Siegfriedt
St. Jude the Apostle Episcopal Church, Cupertino CA
In today's first reading from the book of Exodus, God said to Moses: "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." (Ex. 3)
"Trying to love two women is like a ball and chain. Trying to love two women is like a ball and chain. Some times the pleasure just ain't worth the pain. Trying to love two women is like a ball and chain." So go the words of an old country western song pointing to the difficulties of non-monogamous relationships. Although this song talks about the struggles and pain that can arise when one tries to juggle two intimate relationships, in some ways, it also speaks to the first commandment: "I am YHWH (the Lord your God) who brought you out of the land of Egypt. You shall have no other gods before me." (Ex. 20)
Today I would like to continue my sermon series on the 10 Commandments. I will focus my comments on the first commandment, which speaks about giving one's complete loyalty and allegiance to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Whenever we speak about the 10 commandments, we must remember that they were not separate moral commands to be kept by individuals. They were a way of life that guided the people of Israel to live in harmony with each other. It was believed that if people's relationship with God was faithful and their relationships with each other were just, then peace, harmony, and goodwill would reign.
The people of ancient Israel and surrounding nations believed in the existence of many gods. Among the Caananite people, El was the chief god of the tribal clan who directed the wars of his patrons and intervened on behalf of childless couples. The next important god was Baal, the god of the storm. This god was the provider of rain, and the source of fertility. For those who were childless, offering sacrifices to Baal or to El was very tempting. Molech was the god of the Ammonites, the god to whom people dedicated their first born children by sacrificing them in the fires. They did this in hope of a blessed and secure future. While child sacrifice was forbidden by Jewish law, it was still practiced until the 6th century BCE.
So the first commandment did not suggest that there were no other gods around. It did however command the Israelites not to worship them, not to follow them, not to fear them, nor give them any loyalty. Instead, the people of Israel were to mobilize all of its life, in every sphere, around one single loyalty: YHWH, the God who revealed God's self to Moses at the burning bush; the God who led the people of Israel out of slavery and bondage; the living God who wills to be Lord of all of humanity's thinking and living.
In the contemporary world, as in the ancient world, we often practice a kind of polytheism (meaning the worship of many gods). This allows different gods to have their play in different areas. For instance, in the business world (Mon-Fri), some folks will worship the golden calf. In this realm, it is easy to forget about the God who was revealed in the person of Jesus Christ who pointed to a life of compassion and sacrifice. In the sports arena, some people will worship the god of Mars, the fighter and warrior even though they might call upon YHWH to help them win the game. In this arena, it is easy to compromise one's integrity in order to win the game.
To follow one God, to offer our mind, body, and soul to YHWH, is as difficult today as it was in ancient Israel. We have always lived in a world of options, alternative choices, and gods who make powerful competing appeals. It does us no good to pretend that there are no other offers of well being, joy, and security. There are. The problem with these other competing gods is that they have no sustaining foundation. Once a catastrophe comes, they crumble. For instance, the god of money is great when riches abound but let us not forget the despair that people felt during the great depression or the frantic insecurity that comes when a person is laid off.
The people of Israel were impressed by the splendor and majesty of the Egyptian gods and saw success of those who worshipped the baals and fertility gods of the Canaanites. They were dazzled by the worship of the golden calf as well as Marduk in Babylon. Some converted and never looked back. Have we also been converted from the God of Abraham?
What have been our gods during the last 2000 years and do these gods have anything to do with the God of Abraham? According to John Cobb, a theologian, scholar, and minister in the Methodist Church, Christendom became the god of the people during the middle ages until the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. It was as if people began to worship the religion of Christianity rather than the God of Christianity. In the name of Christendom, million of people were executed in the Crusades at the time of the Inquisition and during the time of the Reformation. Over 1/3 of the population of central Europe was killed as the result of the religious wars between the Protestants and the Catholics. Since a catastrophe is necessary to shake people's deeply held beliefs, this catastrophe brought an end to the power that Christendom held over civilization.
The next god to rise to power in Europe, was nationalism. People were then organized according to geographical locations, rather than according to their religious beliefs. Loyalties were not so much to the faith as they were to the nations and those who help political power. The nation began to take the place of the Church in its ability to influence and wield power. People no longer died for the faith but rather gave their lives to protect their nation and its ideology.
A catastrophe is necessary to shake people's deeply held beliefs. World War I came and then World War II. Millions of people once again died under the auspices of nationalism. Because of the devastation of war, the epic of nationalism began to end. People, who were affected by the destruction brought about by the principles of nationalism, began to look for another god. They found one in economics.
Economism is now the ruling theology of the world. The European communities are rearranging themselves as an economic unit. Transnational companies are expected to take on the role of dealing with problems on a global scale. The banks and the World Trade Organizations (not the Church or the Nation) are the ones with power and influence.
A catastrophe is necessary to shake people's deeply held beliefs. We are finding out that the god of economism is not the dazzling god we once thought that it was. For one sixth of humanity, the march of human progress has now become a retreat. For most of us, striving to maintain a standard of living has become a yoke that is increasingly burdensome. Like the gods of "political Christendom" and "nationalism", economism will fail us too. Who will be the next god?
Today is Trinity Sunday. It is the Sunday in our liturgical calendar that the Church puts aside to celebrate the one absolute God- "a single supreme, infinite, personal spirit, which creates, sustains, and pervades the whole empirical reality of the world." There is one Lord, the God and Father of all who is at this center of the universe. This is the God of Abraham and Sarah, of Isaac and Rebecca, of Jacob and Rachael. This is the God who led the Israelites out of Egypt and who was revealed in the person of Jesus Christ.
"Trying to love two women is like a ball and chain." Trying to love two gods is also like a ball of chain. The pleasures are not worth the pain. So if you are looking for a life of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, then I suggest you revisit the first commandment and take it seriously.